BLOG 6--ALASKA: JUNEAU

September 07, 2015 • Leave a Comment

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Juneau photo blog--#6!

Our first stop here was at the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure. We were all told that this excursion was a must see while in Alaska. It was simply gorgeous--and in the middle of a rain forest!

To learn more go to: http://www.glaciergardens.com

The above link will take you on a wonderful journey that chronicles the purchase of the land and development of the gardens. Take a few minutes--you'll only be in awe of the founding family.

When you walk in to the green house you see these stunning hanging plants, floral arrangements, and upside down umbrellas that grab your attention--I had to find my favorite one! The Monet...

Then we hopped into a golf cart and drove along a large trail that had ponds and gorgeous "flower towers." The trail ended at the top of the mountain.

Here is an excerpt from the website http://www.glaciergardens.com regarding the "flower towers."

"During the land rehabilitation process, Mr. Bowhay was developing the lower landscaped gardens using a large piece of rented equipment to arrange the masses of soil, roots, plants, trees, and rocks dragged down the mountain from the 1984 landslide. It was in the last few hours of equipment rental that the brand new excavator became damaged while Steve was negotiating a large boulder into place. This boulder is now known as “Steve’s Rock” and is the centerpiece of one of the many waterfalls flowing through Glacier Gardens. Full of frustration about the large repair bill he was sure to see, he used the equipment arm to pick up a large tree by the root ball. He swung the excavator arm and slammed the inverted tree into the ground trunk first. The tree did not splinter and break, but instead stuck into the soft mud upside-down.

Steve’s temper subsided as he sat in the machine and watched as the roots hung from the root-ball like the vines on a petunia basket. It only took moments before Steve had a vision of how to recycle the trees cleared from the development of the property: the design is called the the Upside-Down “Flower Tower.” Each “Flower Tower” is made by inverting a spruce or hemlock tree with the root ball pointing towards the sky. The tree is placed trunk first into the ground and buried 5-7 ft. Fish netting is placed inside the top of the root ball to collect soils, and mosses are laid down over the netting to provide nutrients and water base. Each year, Mr. Bowhay personally pants each Flower Tower with roughly 75 – 100 flowering plants for each guest’s enjoyment."